So it’s no secret, my updates have definitely not been up to par lately. I blame this on one thing; one word with 10 letters. Addiction. Yes, my friends I have developed a very unhealthy addiction to something called the Wii. I have decided that the system is extremely evil (butomgiloveitsomuch), especially when playing a game that involves Yoshi.

So, here is a liveblog to force me to update as the Sharks visit Dallas. The NHL is on Versus and The Shootout.

Before the game even starts, we get bad news the Mo is a late scratch with the flu. This does not bode well for a team already missing 3 big names.

1st period
20:00: Stars start with Parrish, Sutherby and Neal. That seems..interesting.

19:06: At least one line is still in tact, Ribbons with Lehts and Otter.

17:40: Oh Roenacker. I forgot about you.

16:28: *clap clap* *clap clap* I miss games at the AAC.

16:00: Do my eyes deceive me? Did I just see Nisky check someone? I’m in shock. And in need of more Red Bull.

15:00: Eriksson is out with Brunnstrom and Petersen in the middle. That could be a promising line! Toby’s been playing pretty well lately.

Wow wow and wow. Marty carried this team to another win against the Canucks. He let in one goal from Taylor Pyatt, and after that decided that was enough.

JUMP! (For my love)

But he will not be getting any love, really, other than getting the 3rd star of the game.

The Swedes were definitely out in full force, on both teams. All 9 of them on the ice tonight played hard, and 2 of our Swedes managed to get a point. Loui Eriksson got the first Stars goal, from Matt Niskanen and Mike Modano on a power play. Then Loui got an assist from a great goal from Joel Lundqvist, his first goal in 11 months! Marty Turco also got an assist. I kept yelling at him to shoot it after the Canucks pulled their goalie, but sadly he did not hear me from my house. One day man, one day.

The three Stars were

Marty Turco

Loui Eriksson

Daniel Sedin

Tomorrow night the Stars will be taking on Chicago. My memory only goes back as far as 2003, and they haven’t won on Valentine’s Day My Birthday from at least that year on. (That game sucked, btw, the one in 03.) Cross your fingers!

First off, Joel Lundqvist has been placed back in injured reserve, retroactive to December 20th. Fabian Brunnstrom was also added to the injured reserve list, him retroactive to December 27th. Joel Lundqvist is still having problems with his shoulder and Brunnstrom has a lower body injury. (I assume it’s to his foot considering he was wearing a protective boot at practice Sunday. You can read the full press release on the Stars website.

TSN also wrote a list of the Stars top 12 prospects. It includes James Neal, Tom Wandell, and Raymand Sawada. They also talk a lot about one of yours truely’s favorite players, Mark Fistric. They even refer to him as “Shrek on skates” which is a reference I make quite frequently.

The 2009 Modern Luxury Stars Calender is now for sale. They began selling it at the game against the Blue Jackets Thursday and are now available at the Frisco Star Center as of yesterday. Other Star Center’s should have it within the week I believe. Being that I am currently without a scanner, I will just tell you who is what month

January – Nicklas Grossman & Matt Niskanen

February – Steve Ott

March – Joel Lundqvist & Loui Eriksson

April – Mike Modano

May – Sergei Zubov

June – Jere Lehtinen

July – Marty Turco

August – Stephane Robidas

September – Trevor Daley

October – Brad Richards

November – Mike Ribeiro

December – Brenden Morrow

In other news, the Stars lost in overtime Saturday 5-4 against the Ottawa Senators. The good news was that we got 1 point, and since it was an eastern conference team, we didn’t give any points up to a team also fighting for a playoff spot in the west. The other fantastic news was Jere Lehtinen played and is finally off injured reserve. Everyone celebrate!

It’s already been a long season with so many players being out injured. But that is starting to change, the Stars will be getting 3 players back in the line up.

Joel Lundqvist, Steve Ott and Stephane Robidas will be dressing and playing tonight.

Joel Lundqvist has been out since October 28th with a broken scapula. He began skating with the team earlier this month, and looks like he is finally able to skate and hit without a chance of reinjuring himself.

Steve Ott has been out since November 25th after suffering a broken hand in a fight. He went to the doctor yesterday for an update and got the green light for getting back on the ice.

Stephane Robidas has been out since December 12th after taking a puck to the face and breaking his jaw. He finished the game, like the trooper he is, but had oral surgery and missed a week while recovering.

These three are important people for the Stars, especially on the PP and PK. Their presence has been missed.

Jere Lehtinen and Joel Lundqvist both skated. Lundy even laid at least one hit, so hopefully he is set to return to the line up soon. Jere Lehtinen looked good, but it’s just a matter of him saying he’s ready to return.

Otter said he goes to the doctor Wednesday, so we’ll see how much longer he has to stay out after his visit.

We got a point, which is still an improvement, especially with Brenden Morrow being out. And they mentioned that nonstop, everytime moment they could fit it in, they would. Just another stab to the gut everytime, as well. In the pre-game show, they mentioned that the Stars are the first team to have 2 players get a hat trick in their team debut, go us! Also, Dave Tippett looked very unhappy during his interview.

The stars came out in the first period and seemed to be taking another step in the right direction. Hiller got his first start against the Stars, since Giguere was pulled 3 of the last 9 starts against the Stars. Usually, it’s the Ducks that get in penalty trouble, but it was even during the first period. Avery took a penalty, then got an extra 2 minutes due to his yapper. And this is what got the Ducks their first goal, the Stars broke down in front of their own net and it was only too easy for Corey Perry to get one past Turco. And 2 seconds later, Barch and Parros got into it, maybe Barch insulted his mullet and pornstache. I guess we’ll never know. Razor found it funny, saying that May must feel like Barch is cheating on him considering they are the usual pair we see fighting when they see each other. Landon Wilson got his first start with the Stars, and got on the score sheet by taking a penaly for hooking, which the Stars were able to kill. I noticed during this first period that Brunnstrom is really starting to gel with the team. He looks a lot more comfortable and confident in his skills at the NHL level. Avery got into a fight of his own 12 minutes in, when him and Kunitz went. Avery is looking more like his old self, the guy we signed, minus the stick-in-the-face waving. Not to be left out, Otter also invited Montador into a fight, and Tippett looked livid on the bench. A fun side note, the Stars lead the NHL in game misconducts. At least we’re number 1 in something. Near the end of the period, the Stars looked like they finally got their shit together, and were going to start the 2nd period with a power play due to Moen taking an elbowing penalty with under a minute left in the first.

The Stars got a 5-on-3 attempt before Moen’s penalty expired, and right before it ended, Eriksson took an interference penalty. Ribeiro got a nice breakaway during a 4-on-4 but Hiller got there to stop it. Hiller looked really good against us, I have a feeling we’ll be seeing him in net the next 4 times we play the Ducks. Avery showed himself to be useful by drawing a penalty on Chris Pronger, that is what I like to see. 10 minutes into the 2nd period, the Stars tied it up with a fantastic goal from Loui Eriksson on a feed from Trevor Daley. Marty Turco also got an assist on the play. At one point when the Ducks were on the attack, Marty began scrambling and accidently knocked the net off and the Ducks shoot the puck in. The NHL made the right call *coughforoncecough* and called No Goal. At the end of the 2nd period, Chris Pronger takes a second penalty, which means the Stars began the 3rd period on the power play.

38 seconds into the third period, Niedermeyer took a penalty, which gave the Stars a long 5-on-3, but were unable to get anything past Hiller. The Stars stayed on it. They looked a lot more trusting, and much more like themselves. Despite not being able to get a 2nd puck in the Ducks net, they also prevented the Ducks from getting another goal themselves. This continued into overtime and resulted in the Stars going to another shootout.

Brad Richards started, speeding up the middle and getting it past Hiller

Corey Perry went wide, and shot it five-hole to tie it up 1-1

Sergei Zubov got stopped by Hiller

Teemu Selanne, the Finnish Flash, was unable to flash it past Turco to keep it tied

Mike Ribeiro tried to go through his legs again, only the puck got a little away from him and Hiller was able to make a save

Ryan Getzlaf managed to get it past Turco, to give the Ducks a 2-1 win.

Despite the loss, the Stars played a good game. But I don’t trust it, I’ve seen this far too much.

The Stars are on the road the next two games, playing Philadelphia tomorrow evening. They recalled Chris Conner to try to give them more depth with Morrow, Lehtinen and Lundqvist out.